Feds getting the job done:

Sex-trafficker who recruited young girls at Southfield motel headed to prison

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Aileen Wingblad/MediaNews Group Federal Court in Detroit (Aileen Wingblad/MediaNews Group)

By AILEEN WINGBLAD | awingblad@medianewsgroup.com | The Oakland Press PUBLISHED: August 16, 2023 at 10:06 a.m. | UPDATED: August 16, 2023 at 10:27 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who sex-trafficked metro Detroit children while visiting the area in 2020 has been sentenced.At a hearing Tuesday in federal court in Detroit, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ordered Jquon Wroten to spend 12 years and six months in prison for two counts of sex trafficking of a minor.. Wroten, 31, pleaded guilty last April to the crimes.According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of Michigan, an investigation into Wroten was launched in late 2020 while law enforcement was attempting to find two female runaways from the Lansing area; a relative of one of them expressed concerns they could be sex trafficking victims.

Police found the minor girls in a Southfield motel room in December 2020 and determined that Wroten had met them at the motel and recruited them to work for him while he was in town. The girls were taken to a local beauty supply store where items were purchased to make them look older, and then commercial sex dates were set up at a metro Detroit home.The girls engaged in sex-for-money with multiple men, and Wroten took the proceeds for his own use.“The sex trafficking of children is a hideous crime that preys on some of our district’s most vulnerable citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison stated in a news release. “The court’s sentence today is a just punishment and will prevent the defendant from further victimizing children here or anywhere else.”Added Devin Kowalkski, acting special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan: “Protecting young people from dangerous predators is a top priority for the FBI in Michigan and across the country. Mr. Wroten is an example of how manipulative these criminals can be. I commend the work of the special agents, deputies, police officers, and prosecutors who worked to make our children safer by ensuring he remains behind bars for a significant period of time.”

This case was investigated by the FBI Detroit Division, FBI Las Vegas Division, FBI San Francisco Division, Southwest Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes (SEMTEC) and State of Michigan Children’s Protective Services. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan Sweeney Bean and Eaton Brown prosecuted the case.